Locomotive ash-pan.



H. A. HOKE.

LOGOMOTIVBASH PAN. 4 APrLIoATIoN FILED 1.111. 27, 1910.

Patented .1a-n.3, 1911.

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H. 1.1101111. LOGOMOTIVE ASH PAN. APPLIOATIN FILED JAN. 27, 1910.

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YUNITED STATES PATENT @FETCE HARRY A. HOKE, OF ALTOONA, PENNSYLVANIA.

LOCOMOTIVE ASH-PAN.

Application filed January 27, 1910.

To all whom it may concern.:

Be it known that I, HARRY A. HOKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Altoona, in the county of Blair and State of l- Pennsylvania, have invented certain new rifand useful Improvements in Locomotive Ash-Pans, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to the subject of locomotive ash pans, and particularly to certain novel and practical improvements in pans of the self-cleaning type, wherein the cleaning operation is easily accomplished by one man without the necessity of going below the locomotive in the ash pit, thus reducing the danger to workmen, as well as reducing the time necessary to clean the pans.

To this end the invention primarily contemplates certain improvements in the ash pan construction and operating-mechanism therefor disclosed in my former and related application, tiled December 31, 1908, Serial No. 170,193.

The presentinvention has the same general objects in view as the invention set forth in the said former application, particularly with reference to the feature of providing an effective combination of articulated or jointed lever elements which cause the force applied to be so. shifted as to provide for starting the opening of a door which has become temporarily stuck or otherwise restrained.

In addition to that general object, the present invention particularly has in View a modification of the operating mechanism of said former application, which modification will allow the use of lapping` drop doors, and which provides means for Causing one door to close slightly in advance of the other.

Also. the present invention provides a construction which allows the door offering the leastl resistance to start rst.

lVith these and many other objects in view, which will readily appear to those familiar with the art as the nature of the invention is better understood, the same consist-s in the novel construction, combination, and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, illustrated and claimed.

The essential features of the invention are necessarily susceptible to structural modification, but a practical embodiment thereof is shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Specification of Letters Patent,

Patented Jan. 3, 1911. serial No. 540,445.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of a locomotive ash pan embodying the present invention. F ig. 2 is a rear end elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1, and clearly showing the operating mechanism. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the parts shown in F ig. 1 and illustrating the action of the articulated element in the opening and closing of the drop doors.

Like references designate corresponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

In the drawings, the number 1() designates the usual locomotive furnace to which is fitted the ash pan supports 11 and the auX- iliary supports 12.

The ash pan proper is designated in its entirety by the number 13 and is preferably made in sections 14 and 15, as well understood by those familiar with the art.V The oppositely movable drop doors D for the bottom of each pocket are carried by means of the usual hinge members 16 upon the hinge rods 17 journaled in suitable bearings 1S at the sides o-f the ash pan. These hinge rods or axles 17 of the doors have fitted thereto the upwardly extending rock arms 19, to the upper ends of which are pivotally connected, as at 20, the upper ends of the toggle forming links: 21, the lower ends of which links are articulated, as at 22, respecbar is provided with a laterally offset strike projection or bend 2G which works through and also engages the fixed guide 25. The upper end of the T-bar 24 is pivotcd to the inner end of a vertically swinging connecting lever 27. the outer end of which lever is fast to a main operating shaft 2S. This main operating shaft 28 is journaled in suitable bearings 29 at the sides of the ash pan body and extends longitudinally of the body, the full length of the latter. The same lever equipment is associated with both ends of the single main operating shaft 28, that is to say, each end of the said main operating shaft has the same lever connections above described with the set of drop doors at that end of the ash pan. The one shaft 28 therefore serves to operate the several pairs of drop doors which are associated with the several discharge openings of the ash pan.

According to the present invention, one of the drop doors is wider than the other and has an overlap lip 30 at its free edge which laps over the tree edge of the opposite door, when both doors are closed.

rIhe usual operating handle 3l is connected with the main operating shaft 28 :tor turning the same.

Freni the construction described, it will be observed that the operation of closing the doors is the saine as the operation described in my former application aforesaid, until the strike projection 26 comes into contact with the guide 25. lWhen this occurs the head 23 ot the T-bar is caused to move to one side, thereby causing the door on that side opposite the said projection, to close first. As the T-bar continues to move upwardly, the strike projection or bend 2G passes through the guide and the other door closes against the edge of the one already closed (or nearly so) and holds both doors tightly closed. In the vclosed position of the doors, there is clearance on both sides of the T-bar so that equal load is applied to both doors to hold them shut.

In opening the doors, the opening force is applied equally to the doors until the strike projection Q6 on the T-bar comes in contact with the guide 25. During this movement, it the inside lapped door works harder than the outside lapped door, the said outside lapped door will partially open, and thereby allow the T-bar to come in contact with the guide 25 on the side farthest from the opery ating' lever. ill of the torce will then be exerted on the inside lapped door. If instead the outside lapped door works harder than the inside lapped door, the force on the T-bar will be divided between the lever arms of the two doors. That part of the torce which is exerted on the lever arm of the inside lapped door will be transmitted from the inside lapped door to the end of the outside lapped door and together with the part of the force which is exerted on the lever arm oi the outside lapped door Will cause the said outside door to partially open. Furthermore when the strike projection 26 on the T-bar comes in contact with the guide the said bar is forced to one side, 'arising the outside lapped door to open more rapidly than the other door so as to avoid any interference between the two. After the strike projection 2G on the T-bar has passed through the guide 25, the bar may, if the resistance to opening is equal on the two doors, return to its central position. In case either door works harder than the other, the bar will move against the guide 25 and thereby cause more :torce to be applied to the harder working door.

I claim:

l. In a locomotive ash pan provided with an ash discharge opening, the combination ot' two oppositely movable doors for closing the opening, one of said doors having its :tree edge overlapping the free edge of the other door when in closed position, means for re.- ceiving motion from a source of power, a `movable element having an articulated lever connection with said source of power and also having articulated connections with both of said doors, and means cooperating with said movable element and its articulated con nections for automatically shitting, in the opening operation, the greater part of the force applied to the door offering the greater' resistance, and in the closing operation to close one of the said doors in advance oli the other.

2. In a locomotive ash pan provided with through said guide. said bar being provided with a laterally offset projection, also oper ated through and against said guide, and lever connections between said bar and said doors.

3. In a locomotive ash pan provided with a discharge opening, the combination with oppositely movable doors, and means for receiving motion from a source of power, ot a fixed guide, a vertically movable T-bar artieulated with said means and loosely operated through said guide, said T-bar being provided with a. laterally offset projection, also operated through and against said guide. and lever connections between said door and said bars.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aflix my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

HARRY A. HOKE.

lVitnesses N. E. GBE, ADAM LEAKE. 

